Architectural and Historical Development in Palestine

International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET) Volume 9, Issue 9, September 2018, pp. 1217–1233, Article ID: IJCIET_09_09_118 Available online at http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJCIET?Volume=9&Issue=9 ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316 © IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed ARCHITECTURAL AND HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT IN PALESTINE Mumen Abuarkub and Faiq M. S. Al-Zwainy Faculty of Engineering, Isra University, Amman, Jordan ABSTRACT This research paper gives a historic overview of the Palestnian architecture from the ancient times until today. The first chapter treats the ancient architecture. It introduces us to the first architectural findings on the territory of Palestine and the earliest Palestinian houses. We will see the differences of styles and buildings in prehistoric and ancient times from those built during Roma-Byzantine rule and later during ancient Greek-Roman influence. It is the time of the emergence and spread of Christianity, thus the period of building its temples - the churches. With the conquest of Palestine by the Arabs and islamization of the country the architecture suffers changes and is influenced by this new religion and new lifestile. Jerusalem becomes the beacon of islamic religion and culture. This period is the subject of the second chapter that gives us overview of the Palestinian architecture starting from Arabs installation in the 7th century and the crusaders wars, followed by the rule of Mamluk's dynasty. We finalize this period of influence in the Palestinian architecture with the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Despite the change of religions and cultures, churches and mosques are being constructed in each rule. In crusader time we notice increased activity in building fortifications. With the decline of the Ottoman Empire, in the 20th century there is a drastic change in building types and building techniques in Palestine. The western influence that came with the British occupation is evident and reflects the changing lifestyle, especially of those in the high society. Attention is paid to new urban plans and British planners are engaged for this purpose. The rise of the tourism in the 20th century demands construction of roads that can connect different cities as well as the country with the rest of the world. What was done during the British, Jordanian and Egyptian occupation, as well as the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967 of Palestine is presented in the third chapter. The historical overview could not be complete if we do not give a brief look at the contemporary architecture in Palestine in the fourth chapter. It is evident that the political situation in Palestine has a decisive impact in Palestinian architecture. The emergence of architectural schools and educated architects that are influenced with the modern and contemporary movements of the global architectural scene are making changes in the urban and rural environment in Palestine. The constraints they endure are certain. This new time demands the use of new building techniques and http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1217 [email protected] Architectural and Historical Development in Palestine new building materials. The contemporary Palestinian architecture is a strugle between the tradition and the modern. Keywords: Palestinian architecture, ancient architecture, historic overview, architectural influence. Cite this Article: Mumen Abuarkub and Faiq M. S. Al-Zwainy, Architectural and Historical Development in Palestine, International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 9(9), 2018, pp. 1217–1233. http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJCIET?Volume=9&Issue=9 1. INTRODUCTION The geographical situation of Palestine represents the curse and the blessing at the same time. Situated in the Middle East, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan river, including ad joint lands, Palestine occupies the strategic geographical place and is a crossroad between three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa. It is the land where the three biggest monotheistic religions were born - the Islam, the Judaism and the Christianity. It is a crossroad of many civilizations and therefore by its position - connecting Eurasian with the African continent, contributed to intermingling of the people from these three continents and their mutual interaction and influences. As a small country, with glorious history and a cradle of civilization, Palestine had a global influence. Despite its religious, etnical and political questions, there are still many economic, social, ecological, political, and of course architectural changes that take place. During its history, Palestine was under control by many civilizations and thus a crossroad of different religions and cultures. Some of the civilizations who left their inprint here had historical influence on the entire human history. Starting from the Canaanites, Amorites, Ancient Egyptians, Moabites, Ammonites, Tjeker, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonias, Persians, ancient Greeks and Romans from ancient times and antiquity passing to the Byzantine Empire, different dynasties of the early Muslim period (Umayads, Abbasids, Seljuks, Fatimids), Crusaders, Late Muslim dynasties (Ayyubids, Mamluks, Ottoman Turks), arriving to the the British, Jordanians, on the West Bank and Egyptians in Gaza Strip, and ending with the modern Israelis and Palestinians. All these rulers left their lifestyle and made cultural and architectural impact. Our ancestors would have a hard time to recognize this land today that was once described as a land of (milk and honey). Today this territory is overinhabited and polluted. In terms of architecture, there are no global urban plans. Unfortunatelly, Palestine is a clear example today of an organic connection between the degradation of the urban space and the existing political conflict. Palestinian case differs from the examples in other countries due to its specific political situation. Palestinian territory transited from the state of occupation to a state of freedom and local self-administration, without the possibility to decide how to manage and organize the use of their land. When this topic is concerned it is less disputable to use the term Architecture in Palestine then the term Palestinian Architecture; the first term has a wider meaning and it refers to all architectural styles met in Palestine. They reflect various periods in Palestinian history: Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid, Crusades, Ayoubid, Mamluk, Ottoman, and British occupation - until today. It should be also noted that these architectural styles are often found in cities and rarely in villages. In the case of Palestine - that played a relatively marginal political and economic role in comparison with cities like Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad, these architectural styles http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1218 [email protected] Mumen Abuarkub and Faiq M. S. Al-Zwainy are mostly met in Jerusalem (Mamluk and Ottoman), Acre, and to a lesser extent in the city of Nablus. Architectural styles are often met in noblemen households; architecture of the political elite and urban noble families. The Architecture of Palestine covers a vast historical time frame and a number of different styles and influences over the ages. The urban architecture of Palestine prior to 1850 was relatively sophisticated. While it belonged to greater geographical and cultural context of the Levant and the Arab world, it constituted a distinct tradition,) significantly different from the traditions of Syria, Lebanon or Egypt). Nonetheless, the Palestinian townhouse shared in the same basic conceptions regarding the arrangement of living space and apartment types commonly seen throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. The rich diversity and underlying unity of the architectural culture of this wider region stretching from the Balkans to North Africa was a function of the exchange fostered by the caravans of the trade routes, and the extension of Ottoman rule over most of this area, beginning in the early 16th century through until the end of World War I. 2. FROM THE BEGINNING UNTIL THE ARAB-ISLAMIC CONQUEST Many historical books describe the history of Palestine. At the same time, beside this abundance in the historical litterature, there are also many testimonies that come from the books of travel from 19th and 20th century, which portray the architecture in Palestine in these last two centuries. In this chapter we will gave a short overview of the history of architecture in Palestine starting from ancient times to the antiquity. 2.1. Ancient architecture Archaeological artifacts imparting information as to the nature of monumental construction, such as city walls, palaces, tombs and cult centers, in ancient Palestine are abundant. The paucity of written records, and the incompleteness of archaeological remains of ancient Palestinian housing available to early scholars, resulted in biblical archaeologists often looking to modern Palestinian houses to determine how ancient housing in Palestine was constructed. Cautioning against the conclusiveness of such comparisons, H. Keith Beebe writes that, (Arab houses are structured with regard to specific social customs and economic conditions, different from those of ancient Palestine). Beebe notes that a full account of the architectural details of ancient Palestinian housing is rarely possible, but that written records and archaeological findings available to scholars at his time of writing (1968), provide (a quite reliable picture of houses in the

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